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Sunday, July 26, 2015

A few weekends ago it has been decided that I was to make a pie. There is nothing simpler or more enjoyable than a fresh homemade berry pie in the summertime, even if it is slightly time consuming.

We went to the store and I let my husband choose the filling. He chose blueberries and raspberries, which I thought at first was a bit of an unconventional combination (I was going to go just for blueberries or perhaps cherries). But he was set on those berries and I thought, well, why not.

I took care not to use too much sugar as I didn't want the sugar to drown out the taste of the berries. Our berries were very sweet and I ended up using no more than about three to four tablespoons of sugar. I was also very careful when tossing the berries so that they didn't run too many juices and retained their shape. I used about 3 tbsp of corn starch to make sure the pie was not too runny. Lately I've been intrigued by using cookie cutter shapes to make fun and interesting pie tops instead of traditional lattice tops or just a dough-covered pie with vent holes (sorry grandma).

I used a combination of white and whole wheat flours for this pie. The whole wheat flour I used was stone ground pastry flour, which worked well and made the crust very delicate, but also more substantial than when made entirely from white flour (and using all whole wheat, as my husband says, makes the thing taste like cardboard). This is a good, simple recipe, that I'd imagine we'd be using much into the fall as various berries come into season. Enjoy!

1. In a bowl mix white and whole wheat flours, 3 tbsp sugar, and salt. Add butter and with your fingers quickly work the butter into the flour mixture until the texture resembles that of coarse sand. Add water, one tablespoon at a time, until dough starts to form. Be careful not to overhandle. Form the dough into two equal balls, sprinkle with a bit of flour and cover with a towel and let rest 15-20 minutes as you prepare the filling. You can also refrigerate the dough for up to 12 hours. (If you refrigerate the dough, let it sit at room temperature for about an hour for the dough to become pliable again before rolling it out).

2. To prepare the filling, gently toss the berries with sugar, lemon zest, corn starch, and lemon juice. Be gentle handling delicate berries such as raspberries so that they don't become mushy and lose their shape (I gently toss them just once with a wooden spatula). Let stand for 15 minutes as you roll out the dough.

3. Dust a piece of wax paper with a bit of flour; rub your rolling pin with flour so it doesn't stick to the dough. Take one dough ball and roll it out into a sheet about 1/8 inch thick or less. Invert it onto a pie pan. Add the berries with all the juices. Roll the other ball into a sheet and use it to either form a lattice top or use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to make about 12 shapes to cover the pie with to make the pie like in the photograph.

4. Bake at 425ºF for 15 minutes; reduce heat to 350ºF and bake for 30-40 minutes until the crust is golden brown and the juices are bubbling. Cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!